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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:13 pm
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PM sent.

BTW, are you from Texas?

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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:41 pm
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I don't understand why you did not return it. Guitar center has a 45 day return policy. You should get a Fender Mustang IV 2 x 12. I am dead serious. It will give you all the tone and power you need and none of the problems as it has no tubes to be faulty or be replaced. $425. Also the effects loop works plus the four button foot switch and 2 button foot switch and a couple of pedals and you're set ; it's a new age.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:45 pm
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Also you never ever want to have any of your Fender products at one of fender's authorized Techs. 16-year-old children at big-box store with no training whatsoever and also no work ethic. I experienced this problem with my pawnshop Mustang guitar. How the $@!& can he call you and tell you your amp is ready and it just #$@*&!% plain doesn't work when you get there? Same thing happened with my guitar. However the mustang IV amp is good because it is made in China where they now have industrial manufacturing processes down to a science and they work their tails off. China's Manufacturing now is like America was in the 1950s. Now we are fat lazy spoiled pathetic American fatcats and it's better to get stuff made in Asia where they are hungry and work hard at making stuff like Arjay's American workers and Leo did 60 years ago in America.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:14 pm
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Thanks for feeling my pain all. Yah, I'm from Houston but now reside in Denver.

I've tried the Mustang amps and couldn't get over the brittle, lack of warmth that almost all solid state amps inherently have. At least with tube amps, a simple exchange of tubes can bring on a multitude of warm, rich, thick tones. Solid State has never impressed me in that way. But Thanks anyway.

GC has a 30 day return policy, I understand that, as I have spent a fortune with them. If I really need to go over the boring timeline, and time not spending playing the amp, I will. But allow me to reiterate, the amp is virtually brand new. Even if I didn't experience any of the problems I've been having until day 31, what's the difference? The amp carries a 5 year warranty, a 90 day tube warranty, and shouldn't have spent as much time as it has on a bench already. It's barely 3 months old. So please spare me the GC return stuff. This is much bigger, and deeper than that.

How can I "not" take the amp to an authorized repair center? Are you saying that I should incur even more costs at an independent repair tech? That makes no sense. I paid for a fully functional piece of equipment, have yet to receive any of the hype or promises, and the only way Fender will honor any warranty work, is at an authorized Fender repair center. I am not anti-Fender. I have many Fender products that I swear by. I'm anti not getting what I paid for and hasn't delivered. That's all.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:54 pm
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wilywelch wrote:
...
How can I "not" take the amp to an authorized repair center? Are you saying that I should incur even more costs at an independent repair tech? That makes no sense. I paid for a fully functional piece of equipment, have yet to receive any of the hype or promises, and the only way Fender will honor any warranty work, is at an authorized Fender repair center. I am not anti-Fender. I have many Fender products that I swear by. I'm anti not getting what I paid for and hasn't delivered. That's all.


All authorized repair centers are not created equal. You may want to check out what is available with a bit of a drive and look for a boutique amp shop that is also "certified" by Fender. In my case I got very lucky in that I have an authorized service center ten minutes from my home! Sherwood's Music in downtown Asheville. They are very capable techs. They prefer to work on tube amps, but they facilitated my recent warranty exchange. Great guys and it did not cost me a dime. Yes, the original amp was bought at GC: a bit over an hour drive from home.

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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:54 pm
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Archtop Bill wrote:
All authorized repair centers are not created equal. You may want to check out what is available with a bit of a drive and look for a boutique amp shop that is also "certified" by Fender.


+1

A well-established shop staffed with older, more seasoned techs is preferable to a big-box store with the repair bench shoehorned between the restroom and the janitor's closet with some snot-picker behind the counter who's fond of texting as he works on somebody's beloved piece of gear.

:roll:

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:15 am
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I want to thank all that have replied and responded concerning this issue. It's forums like this that keep people like myself, sane and at peace.

The advice concerning the Mustang amp was well taken, but it brings it all home as well. I did buy a Mustang V 212 from GC a few years back. I took it home, tweaked the heck out of it, and ended up returning it within the GC policy. If I recall, I had treble and mid completely down, and still got the "solid state" bite and sting in the high end. It was not a very desirable tone. I ended up swapping it for a 60 watt BlackStar 212 tube amp. Same problem, no warmth and stabbed my hears with high end. I don't recall if it was a Class A or Class A/B amp, but it may have been worse than the Mustang. So...took the BlackStar back, swapped it for a Peavey VK 212. The Peavey instantly restored my faith in a simple, straightforward, useable tube amp. I still have it, and it can stand alone with or without pedals. It has and will remain my favorite gigging amp. Now enter the new fangled SS Twin. I had very high hopes with this amp, especially considering it costs almost 3 times as much as the Peavey, initially. As anyone who has suffered through my posts knows, it's been nothing but one headache after another with the SS Twin. The day I went to pick it up at GC should have been a happy and joyous one. Factory fresh, in the box, and a crowd of people casting their eyes upon the blonde beauty. I was on cloud nine that day. There I stood, the proud owner of a 100 watt beast waiting to unleash it's Fender legacy. I didn't even have time to take it home. Straight from the box, to a gig. Cardboard, Styrofoam and plastic wrap still in place. A total leap of faith, and a lack of any remorse. But the nightmare begins from there. Maybe I was in denial. It was hard to believe that Fender would sell me something that hadn't been thoroughly tested and ironed out. It was hard to believe what I was hearing, or not hearing from a Fender tube amp. It never sounded remotely like a Twin Reverb/Showman, never sounded like a Bassman, the burn channel sounded like an anemic solid state, and the boost/effects loop has never worked. I have never had the opportunity to put the amp through the typical paces. It has never been 100%. So how and when, will I realize what the amp should be truly capable of? Time will tell, I suppose. Right now, I have a $1300+ investment sitting on a tech's bench, and not on a stage tonight. I'll keep anyone who's interested on the status of the amp up to speed, and try to keep the blue smoke being blown up my butt, to a minimum.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:59 am
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wilywelch wrote:
I want to thank all that have replied and responded concerning this issue. It's forums like this that keep people like myself, sane and at peace....... Right now, I have a $1300+ investment sitting on a tech's bench, and not on a stage tonight. I'll keep anyone who's interested on the status of the amp up to speed, and try to keep the blue smoke being blown up my butt, to a minimum.


It has been suggested before, why not just take this one back? While not in the same league as a Super Sonic, my first Frontman was DOA. Replaced it with another one from a GC in different state than where the first was purchased. (The original store had none left in stock.) Got nearly two happy years out of the amp.

If you get a second that is lemon then take that back and get another amp all together. You just might be happier and enjoy playing.

Just my opinion. I am one for cutting losses ASAP.

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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 11:48 am
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wilywelch wrote:
I want to thank all that have replied and responded concerning this issue. It's forums like this that keep people like myself, sane and at peace.

The advice concerning the Mustang amp was well taken, but it brings it all home as well. I did buy a Mustang V 212 from GC a few years back. I took it home, tweaked the heck out of it, and ended up returning it within the GC policy. If I recall, I had treble and mid completely down, and still got the "solid state" bite and sting in the high end. It was not a very desirable tone. I ended up swapping it for a 60 watt BlackStar 212 tube amp. Same problem, no warmth and stabbed my hears with high end. I don't recall if it was a Class A or Class A/B amp, but it may have been worse than the Mustang. So...took the BlackStar back, swapped it for a Peavey VK 212. The Peavey instantly restored my faith in a simple, straightforward, useable tube amp. I still have it, and it can stand alone with or without pedals. It has and will remain my favorite gigging amp. Now enter the new fangled SS Twin. I had very high hopes with this amp, especially considering it costs almost 3 times as much as the Peavey, initially. As anyone who has suffered through my posts knows, it's been nothing but one headache after another with the SS Twin. The day I went to pick it up at GC should have been a happy and joyous one. Factory fresh, in the box, and a crowd of people casting their eyes upon the blonde beauty. I was on cloud nine that day. There I stood, the proud owner of a 100 watt beast waiting to unleash it's Fender legacy. I didn't even have time to take it home. Straight from the box, to a gig. Cardboard, Styrofoam and plastic wrap still in place. A total leap of faith, and a lack of any remorse. But the nightmare begins from there. Maybe I was in denial. It was hard to believe that Fender would sell me something that hadn't been thoroughly tested and ironed out. It was hard to believe what I was hearing, or not hearing from a Fender tube amp. It never sounded remotely like a Twin Reverb/Showman, never sounded like a Bassman, the burn channel sounded like an anemic solid state, and the boost/effects loop has never worked. I have never had the opportunity to put the amp through the typical paces. It has never been 100%. So how and when, will I realize what the amp should be truly capable of? Time will tell, I suppose. Right now, I have a $1300+ investment sitting on a tech's bench, and not on a stage tonight. I'll keep anyone who's interested on the status of the amp up to speed, and try to keep the blue smoke being blown up my butt, to a minimum.



you needed to let the speakers break in. just like with a "real" amp the speakers break in, and with mustang IV the sound changes A LOT...becomes much warmer like by a factor of 1,000. i'm serious. bought my M4 in mid 2011 when they were new.. sounded brittle and at the time I preferred my toy $99 line 6 8-inch speaker's tone!!!! but the M4 became a TOTALLY different amp after speaker break-in. i'm talking MAJOR change in the tone... sounds like the real thing to me right now

BTW I'm an amateur but don't take it from me. there are a dozen guys over on the mustang part of this forum who having been gigging for 40 years with a real twin who say they sold their twin and now gig with mustang 3 (that's the 112!!!! not even the 4 that's a 212)!!! Literally. I'm talking guys like you who gigged FOR 40 YEARS with a real fender twin who now say mustang satisfies their gigging needs.

i'm telling you the speakers break in bigtime like a "real" amp

i love my M4 so much I just ordered a M3 just to have the more portable option.

perhaps your tone standards are higher but again I'm talking about guys who gig for 40 years and some of them are talking about using mustang III even for OUTDOOR gigs where they used to use a twin. Even I questioned that...I said I like mustang amps but how the $@!& can a real pro who gigged with the legendary twin for 40 years go to not only a mustang, but a mustang THREE that's a tiny blues jr sized box and 1X12...and these guys were like...the M3 is amazing and the tone difference is so small that I'd rather have the M3 for ease of transport. it weighs 36 pounds.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:26 am
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It certainly doesn't help when a Tech doesn't know what he is doing when fixing an amp. Maybe all 9 tubes don't need replacing either.

The SupersonicTwin is a great amp, it's just a shame it is poorly controlled in production and distribution.

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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:56 am
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Finally got the amp back on 11/8. Went to repair shop to try it out, and amp did work, sort of. Apparently, the tech had received a bad lot of Mullard 12ax7's. I think they ended up swapping out a half dozen tubes before they were able to fix a nasty tube noise. Ended up using a JJ 12ax7 to fix the noise. I'll probably end up ordering "all" new tubes from Tube Depot just to make certain I have the best compliment of tubes I can get. I'll let everyone who's interested know how the amp performs in a real world scenario i.e.-gigging. Also, after going round and round with Fender, they did the warranty work at no charge to me and even gave me a $50 gift certificate to ease my pain. But the bottomline is this: will the amp go the distance? We'll see.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with SS Twin
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 8:44 am
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wilywelch wrote:
Finally got the amp back on 11/8. .... Also, after going round and round with Fender, they did the warranty work at no charge to me and even gave me a $50 gift certificate to ease my pain. But the bottomline is this: will the amp go the distance? We'll see.


Fender really has a great warranty. The $50 GC really shows an intent to keep musicians happy. Enjoy the amp and good luck!

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